Springfield restaurant owner sentenced for fraud

SPRINGFIELD (AP) — The owner of several southwest Missouri restaurants has been sentenced to about a year in prison for defrauding a bank out of about $5.5 million.

The office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri says 69-year-old Bruce Swisshelm of Battlefield was sentenced Friday to one year and a day in prison and ordered to make about $5.49 million in restitution.

Swisshelm, who earlier pleaded guilty to bank fraud and money laundering, owned several Springfield area restaurants. He admitted submitting false financial documents to a bank in order to receive four commercial loans in 2011.

His 44-year-old son, Bruce Swisshelm II, admitted knowing about the scheme and was sentenced to four weeks in custody and five years of probation. He also has to pay $100,000 in restitution.